Mystery Island, 1945 The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat, 1944 The Three Golliwogs, 1944 The Bad Little Monkey, 1946 The Put-em-Rights, 1946 Tales of Green Hedges, 1946 The House at the Corner, 1947 The Mystery of the Missing Necklace, 1947 The Adventures of Pip, 1948 Little Noddy Goes to Toyland, 1949 Humpty Dumpty and Belinda, 1949 Those Dreadful Children, 1949 Rubbalong Tales, 1950 The Ship of Adventure, 1950 Here Comes Noddy Again, 1951 Noddy and His Car, 1951 The Six Bad Boys, 1951 Up.
| Author | Enid Blyton |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Joseph Abbey |
| Series | The Five Find-Outers |
| Published | 1943 |
| Publisher | Methuen |
| Media type |
The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage is the first in the series of children's novels the Five Find-Outers by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1943 and continues to be frequently reissued.[1]
The novel centres on the mystery of who could have set fire to Mr Hick’s cottage. The five children, Larry and Daisy Daykin, Pip and Bets Hilton, and newcomer Frederick Algernon Trotteville (later nicknamed Fatty from his initials), meet at the scene of the fire and end up solving the mystery together.


Their suspects include an old tramp, a dismissed servant, a hostile colleague, and the cook. They find certain clues: Broken-down nettles in a ditch, a footprint in a grassy field, and planes (which Mr. Hick mentions 'flew over' the other day).
The children realise that as Mr Hick claims to have been in the London train when the cottage was burnt, but by his own report he saw the planes which flew over the village at the same time, he is contradicting himself. Fatty finds out that the cottage and the burnt papers Mr Hick describes as 'most important' were insured. The children deduce that Mr Hick burnt his own cottage for the insurance money. The book also introduces Inspector Jenks, who turns out to help the children and becomes a good friend of theirs.
